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Click on the articles below to read about the latest WERC scientific discoveries.

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12 Days of Conifer Bonus: Spiky Leaves Aren't Just For Conifers

12 Days of Conifer Bonus: Spiky Leaves Aren't Just For Conifers

Nothing like a baker’s dozen, right? As a bonus for 12 Days Of Conifers we have…. hey! That’s not a conifer!

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12 Days of Conifers: Lodgepole Pines and Mountain Meadows

12 Days of Conifers: Lodgepole Pines and Mountain Meadows

For Day 11 of 12 Days Of Conifers, we present the lodgepole pine. Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is the only pine in the Sierra Nevada with needles...

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12 Days of Conifers: Where the Forest Meets the Sea: Seabirds, Conifers, and Wildfire

12 Days of Conifers: Where the Forest Meets the Sea: Seabirds, Conifers, and Wildfire

It’s Day 12 of 12 Days Of Conifers and today we feature a tale of land and sea, involving two conifers and the little seabird that nests in their...

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12 Days of Conifers: Pines of Santa Rosa Island's Cloud Forests

12 Days of Conifers: Pines of Santa Rosa Island's Cloud Forests

For Day 10 of 12 Days Of Conifers, we’re leaving the mountains and heading to a completely different ecosystem: the cloud forests of Santa Rosa Island...

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12 Days of Conifers: A Tale of Two Conifers: Incense Cedar and Sugar Pine

12 Days of Conifers: A Tale of Two Conifers: Incense Cedar and Sugar Pine

For Day 9 of 12 Days Of Conifers, we feature two very different conifer species: incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) and sugar pine (Pinus...

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12 Days of Conifers: Whitebark at Risk

12 Days of Conifers: Whitebark at Risk

It’s Day 8 of 12 Days Of Conifers, and our featured species today is the whitebark pine (Pinus albucaulis), a high elevation species that often forms...

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12 Days of Conifers: Pinyon, Juniper, and the Greater Sage-Grouse

12 Days of Conifers: Pinyon, Juniper, and the Greater Sage-Grouse

It’s Day 7 of 12 Days Of Conifers and we’re headed to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and into the sagebrush country at the edge of the Great...

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12 Days of Conifers: Red Firs in the Forest

12 Days of Conifers: Red Firs in the Forest

It’s Day 6 of 12 Days Of Conifers, and we’ve got a wintry scene in a red fir forest--a forest that likely looked very different a century ago.

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12 Days of Conifers: The Goldilocks Cones of Tecate Cypress

12 Days of Conifers: The Goldilocks Cones of Tecate Cypress

For Day 5 of 12 Days Of Conifers we have a very cool and rare tree—the Tecate cypress (Hesperocyparis forbesii)--and some fascinating facts about its...

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12 Days of Conifers: How to Measure a Giant Sequoia

12 Days of Conifers: How to Measure a Giant Sequoia

It’s Day 4 of 12 Days Of Conifers and it’s giant sequoia time. We'll also learn about how scientists measure sequoias and other trees.

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12 Days of Conifers: Five Needles on a Foxtail

12 Days of Conifers: Five Needles on a Foxtail

For Day 3 of 12 Days Of Conifers, we're featuring the long-lived foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana) and a close-up on its cones.

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12 Days of Conifers: Coring the Prickly Ponderosa

12 Days of Conifers: Coring the Prickly Ponderosa

For Day 2 of 12 Days Of Conifers, we’re going to start with the stately Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and explore how scientists use tree rings to...

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